Evaluation of Quantitative EEG by Classification and Regression Trees to Characterize Responders to Antidepressant and Placebo Treatment

The study objective was to evaluate the usefulness of Classification and Regression Trees (CART), to classify clinical responders to antidepressant and placebo treatment, utilizing symptom severity and quantitative EEG (QEEG) data. Patients included 51 adults with unipolar depression who completed treatment trials using either fluoxetine, venlafaxine or placebo. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and single electrodes data were recorded at baseline, 2, 7, 14, 28 and 56 days. Patients were classified as medication and placebo responders or non-responders. CART analysis of HAM-D scores showed that patients with HAM-D scores lower than 13 by day 7 were more likely to be treatment responders to fluoxetine or venlafaxine compared to non-responders (p=0.001). Youden’s index γ revealed that CART models using QEEG measures were more accurate than HAM-D-based models. For patients given fluoxetine, patients with a decrease at day 2 in θ cordance at AF2 were classified by CART as treatment responders (p=0.02). For those receiving venlafaxine, CART identified a decrease in δ absolute power at day 7 at the PO2 region as characterizing treatment responders (p=0.01). Using all patients receiving medication, CART identified a decrease in δ absolute power at day 2 in the FP1 region as characteristic of nonresponse to medication (p=0.003). Optimal trees from the QEEG CART analysis primarily utilized cordance values, but also incorporated some δ absolute power values. The results of our study suggest that CART may be a useful method for identifying potential outcome predictors in the treatment of major depression

Evaluation of sorivudine (BV-araU) versus acyclovir in the treatment of acute localized herpes zoster in human immunodeficiency virus-infected adults

The clinical efficacy and safety of sorivudine as treatment for acute cutaneous tester in human immunodeficiency virus-infected adults was compared with that of acyclovir in a double-blinded randomized study, A total of 125 patients with laboratory-confirmed tester rash present for less than or equal to 72 h were assigned treatment with either 40 mg of sorivudine once daily or 800 mg of acyclovir five times daily, both taken orally for 7 days, Patients were assessed daily until all lesions crusted and then monthly for 6 months for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and for 12 months for recurrent or new episodes of tester, Sorivudine significantly shortened the median period of new vesicle formation from 3.0 to 4.0 days (log rank P = .0001), Sorivudine was effective regardless of duration of rash before treatment, Zoster recurrences and new episodes were experienced by fewer patients assigned sorivudine (11%) than acyclovir (26%, P = .037), No differences were seen in incidence, severity, or duration of either acute neuritis or PHN, Both treatments were well tolerated

Evaluation of sorivudine (BV-araU) versus acyclovir in the treatment of acute localized herpes zoster in human immunodeficiency virus-infected adults

The clinical efficacy and safety of sorivudine as treatment for acute cutaneous tester in human immunodeficiency virus-infected adults was compared with that of acyclovir in a double-blinded randomized study, A total of 125 patients with laboratory-confirmed tester rash present for less than or equal to 72 h were assigned treatment with either 40 mg of sorivudine once daily or 800 mg of acyclovir five times daily, both taken orally for 7 days, Patients were assessed daily until all lesions crusted and then monthly for 6 months for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and for 12 months for recurrent or new episodes of tester, Sorivudine significantly shortened the median period of new vesicle formation from 3.0 to 4.0 days (log rank P = .0001), Sorivudine was effective regardless of duration of rash before treatment, Zoster recurrences and new episodes were experienced by fewer patients assigned sorivudine (11%) than acyclovir (26%, P = .037), No differences were seen in incidence, severity, or duration of either acute neuritis or PHN, Both treatments were well tolerated